Hayek Program Podcast

On this episode, Peter Boettke chats with Mark Pennington on Mark's latest book, Foucault and Liberal Political Economy: Power, Knowledge, and Freedom (Oxford University Press, 2025). Pennington argues that Foucault's ideas on self-creation, disciplinary power, and biopolitics align with key liberal concerns about social control and individual agency. He critiques how both liberals and Foucauldian critics have misunderstood or ignored these connections, and drawing on thinkers like Hayek, Buchanan, and Ostrom, he calls for a liberalism that emphasizes pluralism, resists technocratic overreach, and engages more deeply with the insights of the humanities.Dr. Mark Pennington is Professor of...

On this episode, Nathan Goodman speaks with Abby Hall on the "boomerang effect," where U.S. military tools and tactics used abroad—like drones—are repurposed for domestic border enforcement. Hall discusses how restrictive immigration policies, such as the Secure Fence Act and Operation Streamline, often lead to unintended consequences like increased migrant deaths and overwhelmed asylum systems. She advocates for more open immigration pathways to improve both humanitarian outcomes and resource allocation. The conversation also highlights how past U.S. interventions in Latin America have contributed to current migration patterns and emphasizes the importance of humility and flexibility in p...

On this episode, Nathan Goodman chats with economist Ben Powell about common myths surrounding mass immigration, including fears of job loss, wage suppression, and fiscal burdens. Drawing from his book, Wretched Refuse?: The Political Economy of Immigration and Institutions, Powell presents cross-country evidence showing that immigration does not undermine culture, institutions, or productivity. Instead, it often correlates with improvements in economic freedom and institutional quality. He also highlights the importance of focusing on targeted policy solutions rather than broad restrictions.Dr. Benjamin Powell is the Executive Director of the Free Market Institute at Texas Tech University, a...

On this episode, Stefanie Haeffele chats with Abigail Hall on her latest book, How to Run Wars: A Confidential Playbook for the National Security Elite, which provides a satirical instruction manual for warfare. They discuss the various methods and approaches to bringing academic work to a broader audience, highlight the need for humility in providing commentary, emphasize the importance of Abigail’s research in the increasingly militarized modern world and the role of satire in critiquing and resisting abuses of power, and more.Dr. Abigail R. Hall is an Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Ta...

On this episode, Erwin Dekker chats with Director Tomasz Agencki on the making of "Notes on the Margin" (2024), a full length documentary on the life and legacy of Carl Menger, founder of Austrian economics. Despite limited archival material and conflicting accounts, Agencki crafts a visually rich story highlighting Menger’s intellectual journey and reformist spirit.Tomasz Agencki is a freedom-focused movie maker who travels around the world to cooperate with like-minded creators. Agencki has over 15 years of experience in film and tv production, directs and films many of his own documentaries, and is a professional audiobook voice ar...

On this episode of the Hayek Program Podcast, Peter Boettke reflects on the lessons he’s learned throughout his academic career, focusing on what it takes to succeed after graduate school. Boettke encourages graduates to: value the scientific pursuit of truth and scholarship; cultivate a sense of awe, wonderment, surprise, and appreciation; and to be curious. He cautions against prioritizing cleverness over clarity and emphasizes the need to continually adapt and adjust. Persistence and hard work pays off. Try to pursue ideas, not people. Don’t be inept and don’t be lazy. Pay attention to details. Be a produc...

On this episode of the Hayek Program Podcast, Margaret Levi delivers a keynote lecture at the 2024 Markets & Society conference, exploring her latest research on political equality and arguing that it has been poorly conceptualized and measured in comparison to economic equality. She frames political equality around three dimensions: participation, representation, and responsiveness, emphasizing that it is relational and rooted in social interactions and is not merely a matter of resource distribution. Levi highlights new empirical tools for better assessing political equality, including surveys on empowerment, studies of social capital, and network analysis.Margaret Levi is Professor Emerita...

On this episode, Jessica Carges chats with Karol Boudreaux on female land and resource rights in Sub-Saharan Africa and their impact on economic development. Karol discusses how even when property rights are granted, formal documentation and cultural backgrounds pose challenges to control over land use, and she shares the success story of Rwanda, how the state undertook a massive land documentation effort to improve formal property rights.Karol Boudreaux has a JD in International Law from the University of Virginia, and her work over the past two decades has focused on efforts to support improvements to land...

On this episode of the Hayek Program Podcast, Nava Ashraf delivers a keynote lecture at the 2024 Markets & Society conference, exploring the role of trust and institutions and focusing on female entrepreneurship in developing countries, particularly Zambia. Ashraf argues that trust, institutional fairness, and negotiation skills matter for gender equity and economic development.Nava Ashraf is a Professor of Economics at the London School of Economics and Political Science, where she is also the Co-Director of the STICERD Psychology and Economics Programme.Her research combines psychology and economics using both lab and field experiments to test...

On this episode, Jessica Carges chats with Catherine Pakaluk on her latest book, Hannah's Children: The Women Quietly Defying the Birth Dearth (2024). Pakaluk describes the economic consequences of dropping fertility rates, explores the reasons for why women choose to have children, explains how we can increase fertility rates, and more.Catherine Pakaluk is the Director of Political Economy and an Associate Professor at The Catholic University of America. Her primary areas of research include economics of education and religion, family studies and demography, Catholic social thought and political economy. If you like the show, please...

On this special crossover episode, Ideas of India podcast host, Shruti Rajagopalan, interviews Christopher J. Coyne on the economics of conflict and peace, the history of the U.S. security state, the US intervention in Afghanistan, domestic consequences of militarism abroad, and much more!For the full length transcript and for more episodes like this, check out the Ideas of India podcast page.Shruti Rajagopalan is a Senior Research Fellow at the Mercatus Center and a Fellow at the Classical Liberal Institute at New York University School of Law. She leads the India political economy...

On this episode, Jordan Lofthouse chats with Zane Austin Willard about interdisciplinary scholarship and using political economy to study LGBTQ plus issues. Zane explains his academic background in economics and communication studies and discusses power dynamics, queer culture and Rupaul’s Drag Race, the paradox of visibility, and the strengths and weaknesses of polycentric governance explored through the #MeToo movement.Zane Austin Willard is a doctoral student in the Department of Communication at the University of South Florida and Visiting Assistant Professor of Communication and Media Studies at The University of Tampa. Zane’s research and teaching inte...

On this episode of the Hayek Program Podcast, Kwame Anthony Appiah delivers a keynote lecture at the 2023 Markets & Society conference, exploring the historical and philosophical complexities of cultural property. Using examples from classical literature, African history, and global museum debates, he critiques modern repatriation efforts for oversimplifying ownership claims. Appiah argues that the ownership and heritage of cultural artifacts are historically complex, traceable through ancestry, territory, and identity. This complexity often creates contradictions in restitution debates. Instead of a narrow focus on repatriation, Appiah advocates for a more nuanced, cosmopolitan approach to heritage and museum collections.Kwame...

On this episode of the Hayek Program Podcast, Deirdre McCloskey delivers a keynote lecture at the 2022 Markets & Society conference. She argues that the "great enrichment"—a 30-fold rise in global income per capita since 1776—was driven by liberal economic ideas that champion individual freedom and equality of permission. McCloskey also critiques government intervention, emphasizing the transformative power of removing barriers to foster innovation, prosperity, and human flourishing, and more.Deirdre McCloskey is a Distinguished Professor Emerita of Economics and of History and Professor of English and of Communication at the University of Illinois at Chicago. McCloskey is also...

Mikayla Novak chats with Giandomenica Becchio on her latest book, The Doctrine of the Separate Spheres in Political Economy and Economics: Gender Equality and Classical Liberalism (Palgrave Macmillan, 2024). Together they discuss Becchio’s background and inspiration, the separated roles of men and women in the public and private spheres, and key thinkers in classical liberalism that studied feminist economics.Giandomenica Becchio is Professor of History of Economic Thought, Methodology of Economics, and the Theory of Entrepreneurship in the Department of Economic and Social Sciences, Statistics and Mathematics, ISOMAS, at the University of Torino, Italy. If yo...

On this episode of the Hayek Program Podcast, Peter Boettke gives the opening keynote lecture at the 2022 Markets & Society conference. In this lecture, Boettke speaks on the importance of “relations before transactions”, emphasizes the impact of social interactions on economic activity and the role of trust, norms, and institutions, and highlights the insights of Adam Smith, F.A. Hayek, and Elinor Ostrom. Boettke explores the intersections between markets and society, opening the conference with a discussion of its theme.Peter Boettke is a Distinguished University Professor of Economics and Philosophy at George Mason University and Director of the...

Welcome back to the series, Perspectives on Peace, hosted by Chris Coyne. The first four episodes of this series will focus on The Legacy of Robert Higgs (Mercatus Center, 2024) and will feature a collection of short interviews with many of the chapter authors.This episode focuses on state power, peaceful cooperation, and the regime uncertainty of Robert Higgs, featuring authors Ed Stringham on “Two Paths toward Anarcho-pacifism: Lessons from Christianity and Modern Economics”, and Don Boudreaux on “Regime Uncertainty and Market Uncertainty.” In their conversations, the authors explain their motives for writing and summarize their respective chapters.Edward...

Welcome back to the series, Perspectives on Peace, hosted by Chris Coyne. The first four episodes of this series will focus on The Legacy of Robert Higgs (Mercatus Center, 2024) and will feature a collection of short interviews with many of the chapter authors.This episode focuses on the military and health industrial complexes of Robert Higgs, featuring authors Nathan Goodman on “The Military-­Industrial Complex and the Militarization of Society”, Raymond March on “What About the Healthcare State? Robert Higgs's Contribution to Health Economics”, and Yuliya Yatsyshina on “The War Industry as Economic Cancer.” In their conversations, the authors s...

This is the last episode of a three-part miniseries on entangled political economy (EPE), hosted by Mikayla Novak. Entangled political economy is a sub-discipline of political economy that explicitly views individuals and the private and public sectors as being intertwined in overlapping exchange relationships along competitive and collaborative dimensions.On this episode, Mikayla Novak is joined by Marta Podemska-Mikluch who discusses her life in Poland under socialism, her time working alongside Richard Wagner, genuine versus parasitical entrepreneurship, dyad versus triad exchanges, the health care system, the future of analyzing rhetoric using AI, and more!Marta...

Welcome back to the series, Perspectives on Peace, hosted by Chris Coyne. The first four episodes of this series will focus on The Legacy of Robert Higgs (Mercatus Center, 2024) and will feature a collection of short interviews with many of the chapter authors.This episode focuses on the Ratchet Effect of Robert Higgs, featuring authors Abigail Hall on “Ideology, Crisis, and the Ratchet Effect: Retrospect and Prospects”, Jayme Lemke on “The Origins and Persistence of Discriminatory Institutions and Ideologies”, and Anthony Gregory on “The History, Ideology, and Shape of Leviathan: Researching the American State's Ratchet Effect, Growth, and Transf...